Have you washed your face with an exfoliating scrub today? Brushed your teeth with ‘whitening’ toothpaste, used a facial cleanser, makeup? or, had a shave with shaving gel?Chances are you have unknowingly smothered your body with plastic particles before washing them down the plug hole to pollute our oceans and contaminate marine life. We know you have done this unwittingly, and that’s a big part of the problem, you see so many leading brands contain plastic particles called microbeads and they can still be sold, legally, before the UK ban comes into force in 2018.

On the 1st January 2018, the UK introduced ‘the strongest’ ban on microbeads anywhere in the world.Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary, said there was a “serious threat” to wildlife and pledged to “explore new methods of reducing the amount of plastic – in particular, plastic bottles – entering our seas”.

Billions of minute pieces of plastic are building up on our oceans floors, in our lakes and estuaries, harming all marine and freshwater life and entering into our food chain.

Facial and body scrubs, shower gels, soaps, toothpastes and cosmetics all carry microbeads. We don't need them. Microplastic has spread all over the planet, with one estimate suggesting there are 300 billion pieces in the Artic Ocean alone.

A major study found humans have produced a staggering 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic since 1950, creating 6.3 billion tons of waste. Nearly 80 per cent of that waste has been dumped in landfill sites or simply thrown away into the environment.

We are destroying our oceans. Research shows that that tiny microbeads, gritty cleansers that scrub off dead skin cells, have been damaging water supplies, marine life and the ecological balance of the planet because they contain microbeads. Marine species are unable to distinguish between food and microbeads. Over 663 different species were negatively impacted by marine debris with approximately 11% of reported cases specifically related to the ingestion of microplastics.

Microbeads can act like tiny sponges, absorbing pesticides and flame retardants. Marine animals consume these poisons. So why are they not banned. It’s estimated that one single care product contains 360,000 microbeads in a single package. Unilever, Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, The Body Shop, and L'Oreal agreed to phase them out but that could take years so legislation is needed to ban them now.

Join us and call for a complete ban NOW

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